FINITO DE CÓRDOBA (1st:
102 corridas) What a pleasure to see Juan Serrano head the
escalafón at the year-end some 10 years after I witnessed Paco
Ojeda give him the alternativa in his home city. I saw Finito on
four occasions this year  in Santander, Tudela, San Sebastián
de los Reyes and Alcázar de San Juan  and had nothing to
complain about at any time. His ability to quickly tune in to the
possibilities (and limitations) of his enemigos was on display in
each corrida and his first Tudela faena contained some of the
most classic toreo you could ever hope to see. On the bill with
El Juli at Alcázar, Finito outperformed the young maestro,
cutting four ears. I would have preferred some more passes with
the left hand to his first Sancho Dávila bull, with whom Serrano
performed beautiful capework and some suave muletazos. His other
animal was a lesser toro, but this time there were excellent
naturales to accompany pases ayudados and he threw himself on the
bull for an estocada hasta la bola. Sublime performances in
Barcelona, Córdoba and Jáen  the last of these delivering
an indulto  added to Finitos standing in 2001.

nd: 100 corridas) My
three sightings of the valenciano this year  at San Sebastián,
Santander and Valladolid  have already been described in
detail in La Divisa. The most impressive performance was at
Valladolid, where, on the bill with José Tomás and El Juli,
Enrique ended up triunfador (of the afternoon and the feria)
after thoughtful, committed and beautiful faenas to both his
Torrealtas. The second faena that day, which had a prolonged
beauty and mastery that brought tears to the eyes, was amongst
the very best I have seen from him. His San Isidro strategy this
year (one corrida with a ganadería torista) failed to come off
and the start of his temporada was generally disappointing, but
Ponce fought back, cutting three ears in Vistalegre four days
after his Las Ventas appearance and enjoying a pretty consistent
string of triumphs from August onwards. Enrique will have been
delighted to reach 100 corridas for the 10

th temporada
in succession, showing just what a commanding force he has been
in the last decade. Expect him to ease back on appearances from
now on, although the quality of his toreo should remain
unaffected.

rd:
88 corridas) Our paths crossed on no less than seven occasions
during 2001. Amongst his most impressive performances were the
one at San Sebastián in April and the first of his two
afternoons at Valladolid when, after his first bull denied him
any success with the left hand, he produced an all-round display
with his closing Garcigrande  a superb quite de chicuelinas,
some very good banderillas and a committed faena, forcing the
toro past him when needed. For me, though, the defining moment of
his 2001 temporada came at San Sebastián de los Reyes, his first
appearance after a bull in Bilbao (where hed returned
earlier than advised after his Málaga cornada) had gored him in
the face, cutting his mouth and nose. With his patched and
restored face still covered in plaster, Julián López chose to
greet his first Antonio Bañuelos opponent by giving it verónicas
down on his knees! After the animal proved to be an invalid in
the faena, El Juli pulled out all the stops with his second toro.
He again met it on his knees; walked it to the horse with
chicuelinas; gave a quite of three close lopecinas; even managed
a pair of sticks running to the left horn; produced a superb
faena, running the animal nicely on each hand; and cut two ears,
the crowd having been on its feet at various points in all three
tercios. Such determination! His performance in the cartel
del año at Valladolid showed he is not quite there yet in
terms of profundity of toreo as Ponce or Tomás. It also revealed
some worrying judgement to bypass his varied capework in favour
of the mysteriously more crowd-pleasing banderillas. Please ditch
the sticks in 2002, Julián, and lets see more of that
magical capote.

th: 73
corridas) My sole viewing of Jesulín this year was at Santander,
and, as I reported at the time, I really couldnt see why hed
decided to return to the bullrings as he remained at his most
tedious. However, other CTL members reported great things from
him at plazas like Málaga, Almería and El Puerto. It remains to
be seen whether the experience of a long recovery from a very
serious car accident towards the end of the temporada will
finally bring some depth and soul to his toreo.

th:
71 corridas) A man with a real sense of how to construct a faena,
Victor impressed me at both Santander and Palencia this year. In
the latter plaza, he won an ear off his first Buenavista toro
after a faena begun with some dramatic pases de muerte, Victor
keeping his eyes fixed on the ground as the bull passed him time
and time again, and ended with pases por altos mirando al publico.
In between were some fine derechazos and chest passes. Sometimes,
though, his limitations are apparent. Puerto would have left
Palencia a hombros were it not for the protracted swordwork given
to his last bull- the animal was superb in the muleta, still
charging from a distance as the faena neared its end, but this
time the muletazos were rather low-key and Victor allowed a
triumph to pass him by. With a success at Sevillas autumn
Feria de San Miguel for the second year running, and triumphs in
Valencia, Bilbao, Pamplona and Murcia, Puerto will continue to be
a regular feature in next years top carteles.

th: 66
corridas) Another disappointing temporada for the man who is
still Andalucias best hope for figura status. After his
stunning performance in Palencias 2000 Feria, I was keen to
see him again this year and found him at Santander, Medina del
Campo, Palencia, Aranda de Duero and Valladolid. At Medina, where
his capework was decidedly not on display, he cut an oreja after
a fine faena and good estocada to his second Laurentino
Carrascosa bull. At Aranda, facing toros of El Torreón, things
were better still. There was a strong faena to his first enemigo
once José Antonio had appreciated the qualities of its left horn
and convinced himself to stay with it following a desarme on his
first natural. However, he remained somewhat reluctant to go
forward to the beast and force the completion of tandas. An ear
followed the estocada and another was won off his second bull,
when Morante produced those lovely stylish verónicas of his and
had a couple of men dancing with each other in one tendido as he
guided the toro through liquid series of derechazos and naturales.
The next day, in Valladolid, JA constructed a wonderful faena of
beautiful naturales in an area opposite his first bulls
querencia, hitting the sweet spot, which was more than he could
do with the sword, narrowly avoiding three avisos. After his
second toro was substituted with another weak-legged animal,
Morante opted to cut and kill. The fact that the swordwork was
very protracted once more only added to the bronca. A further
change of apoderado at the end of the season indicates this is a
torero who remains unsettled.

th:
63 corridas) The most impressive torero that afternoon in
Valladolid was Manuel Caballero. Manolo calmly got on with the
business of toreando his opening astifino Domingo Hernández
after it had sent peón Gonzalo González to the infirmary with
blood pumping from his femoral artery. Although the bull had been
breaking off in the opening tercios, Caballero soon had it under
the control of his muleta for a brief, but splendid, faena in the
middle of the ring - great series of derechazos followed by
naturales and then derechazos de frente to end with. A fine sword
followed, but the president unbelievably ignored the majority
petition for the ear. He must have regretted his inaction, for
the two ears awarded after Manuels second toro were over-generous.
It was another good display by the man from Albacete, though
 verónicas by the boards, a quite of chicuelinas, another
excellent faena of classic series on both hands and a solid
estocada. It was my only post-Santander sighting of him, but it
added up to two fine showings out of two.

th: 61
corridas) I came across the pouting youngster at Tudela and
Palencia, where his performances were a complete contrast. At
Tudela, he spent his time getting his cloth caught or playing to
the crowd. At Palencia, his opening faena to a Buenavista bull
also started with a desarme, but thereafter he made the most of
his noble animal for an excellent faena of serious toreo, only
for its impact to be dissipated by four swordthrusts. His second
bull, from Puerto de San Lorenzo, was dedicated to the crowd and
participated in a fine faena which included capeinas and
circulares, although, this time, Miguel stayed mainly on the
right horn. A good estocada brought a deserved ear. Despite
cutting orejas this year in Valencia, Madrid (Las Ventas and
Vistalegre), Málaga, Salamanca and Logroño, Abellán still
seems to be the not-quite man. Maybe 2002 will change
all that.

th:
61 corridas) My matador of the year. The temporada began badly
for the madrileño, and at one point he was apparently seriously
considering retiring again. However, an exceptional performance
at Granada in June pointed the way and thereafter José never
looked back, securing triumphs at Valencia, El Puerto, Aranjuez,
Salamanca and Zaragoza amongst other plazas. I was lucky enough
to see him at Santander, Medina del Campo, Palencia and Aranda de
Duero and on no occasion did he disappoint (even with dreadful
Luis Algarra bulls at Palencia which brought deception to the
attractive cartel of Joselito, José Tomás and Morante). His
strong showing at Santander and the historic Aranda faena have
already been covered in the pages of La Divisa. At Medina, facing
a good encierro from Laurentino Carrascosa, José started as he
meant to continue, performing beautiful verónicas templadas and
a feet-together quite. The excellent faena was begun with
delicate, slow passes to the centre of the ring, where naturales
con temple were constructed. The faena took on an ojedista tone
before Joselito ended with sombre manoletinas and a fine sword to
cut two ears. With his second toro, José did it all over again
 lovely, committed capework and an exquisite faena, this
time featuring naturales de frente, those naturales popularised
by El Juli in which the bull is moved past slowly and closely
simply by flicking a corner of the cloth, and derechazos without
use of the espada to spread the muleta. A half-sword sufficed,
two further ears were awarded and a smiling Joselito was carried
in triumph from the plaza. The maestro is back.

th: 57 corridas)
Last year, I reported that Manolo Díaz had had a scrappy season
with far too many tossings and injuries. This year was worse
still, in that El Cordobés and toreo seemed to have parted
company completely. I saw him just the once, at Santander, when
his performance was abysmal. His temporada only featured three
dates in the main ferias of serious plazas (Valencia, Sevilla and
Madrid) and he failed to make any impact on any of them, with the
rest of his season spent mainly on the minor bullring circuit.